Cedefop's 2016 work programme reflects the plan to support the Riga conclusions on vocational education and training (VET) and the skills roadmap, for a more qualified and competitive European workforce.

This short description aims to contribute to better understanding of vocational education and training (VET) in the Netherlands, providing an insight into its main features and highlighting recent VET policy developments.

This guide is a part of the ETF, ILO and Cedefop series of guides on skills anticipation and matching.

All the guides follow a common structure, although they vary in level of detail, technical content and case studies. The ETF, Cedefop and the ILO worked closely together to develop the guides, usually with one agency/organisation taking the lead and the others providing inputs, case studies, comments and reviews. All guides have undergone extensive validation and peer review; they were also discussed in detail in international expert seminars in which academic representatives, anticipation and matching experts, and potential end-users from across the world provided comments and feedback on content and usability. Experts and staff of the three organisations also peer reviewed the guides before their publication.

The European guidelines for validating non-formal and informal learning are written for individuals and institutions responsible for the initiation, development, implementation and operation of validation arrangements.